Intermittent disconnects

[#1]

If Openreach are seeing 35Mbps, but they less than this at the router, surely either the dsl cable connecting the router, or the faceplate (which if it was this, you'd of thought OR would have replaced it) or the router is causing the drop.

I assume the tests are with an ethernet cable direct into the router?

The other issue you've mentioned regarding the ticket response, or lack of, well if you do reply to a ticket then I always (now) reply on the forums as this 'lets them know' you've replied - though I'd of thought replying on the ticket would also trigger an alert to them that you've updated it.

[#2]

We are running without the faceplate for the moment, to ensure that there is no interference from our phone extensions whilst we are still evaluating whether our intermittent disconnection problems have been solved. So, only the router and our main phone are connected to the line.

The dsl cable is the new one that came with the new router. Since we are currently getting higher speeds, it seems unlikely that the cable is the culprit.

Speed tests are both wifi and with an ethernet cable direct into the router. Speeds we get through these two different media are consistent with one another.

Thanks for the heads up re using the forums to alert PlusNet.

[#3]

There's nothing jumping out as wrong with how you've currently got the router connected:)

Going back, the event log 'value change' is where I think this issue is coming from - I've been going through some old notes of mine and I too had the value change causing my connection to drop. So going off mine, the SNR bouncing or the sync speed changing appears to have been the cause at my end.

Is your SNR erratic?

My only other thought is that Plusnet have banded you connection, hence why Openreach see one speed and the router sees another - again only Plusnet can check this.

[#4]

I feel your pain, I'm having exactly the same problems since feb 17th and 7 BT engineers visits and a new router.

Same problems with no reply to tickets.

Bit stuck what to do really, it all detailed in another post 

[#5]

HI @aeneareid, I'm sorry for the issues you have been having and for the delay in your ticket being picked up. Our tickets have a lead time of 3-5 working days, but as @DS mentioned, if you add a reply to the ticket please just drop us a message on here to let us know and we'll be happy to pick it up for you.

There has been a few drops over the last couple of days and as you've ruled out your extensions by having it in the test socket, we will likely need another engineer visit. I've updated the fault ticket for you.

[#6]

Oh dear, I foresee a future of being bounced between yourselves and OpenReach as I rather fear another engineer visit will not be productive. Both engineers who visited recently have declare the line to be faultless and have pointed the finger of suspicion at the router. Following the first engineer's visit we got a new router. The second engineer did find a fault with a joint in the wiring coming into the house but, having repaired that, was adamant that the line was faultless. His advice was that, if the intermittent disconnects re-occurred after his visit, we should request another new router. So I am not very hopeful that another engineer visit will solve our problems.

The difficulty is that the disconnects are so intermittent and, at the moment, very short-lived and only in the small hours of the morning. Is there any other sort of test that can be run either by yourselves or by OpenReach to diagnose the problem? If not, I foresee a future of being bounced between yourselves and OpenReach while you blame the line and they blame the router.

I shall be away from home for the rest of this week and my husband has commitments that mean he can't stay at home for the whole length of one of your specified timeslots, so the earliest we could accommodate an engineer would be Monday 6th May 8am - 1pm or 1pm-6pm. At least by then we will be able to see whether there is any increase in the frequency or duration of the disconnects.

[I have also replied to the fault ticket with the above information.]

[#7]

Hi @aeneareid

I am sorry for the way you  feel. I have update the fault ticket regarding this matter.

Please let us know once you've responded to the ticket.

[#8]

I have responded to the ticket. Thanks.

[#9]

Hi @aeneareid

I have replied back to you via the open ticket

Please let us know if you have any further queries.

[#10]

OK, so another OpenReach engineer has been and gone. Like the previous two he could find no fault with the line and measured the incoming line speed as 38Mbps which is healthy. He did point another slight finger of suspicion at the router which we have noticed makes a hissing sound when data are being transferred over the line.

Having browsed other threads in the forum. I can see that hissing routers are a common complaint - oh dear! Could this be a source of our intermittent disconnects? It's hard to imagine a connection since the disconnects usually happen overnight when nothing is being uploaded or downloaded.

Any suggestions as to where we go from here?

[#11]

Hi @aeneareid,

I'm afraid we've still not got the engineer notes due to the appointment being so recent, but I'd like to touch upon the point brought up about the router. Was the router in use the latest router that we sent you recently? The reason I ask is that, whilst the router model in use is expected to make a bit of noise during heavy periods of usage, it shouldn't really affect/cause the types of issues that you've reported.

Splitting the wireless channels can help to improve the Wi-Fi usage and in some instances lower the noise of the router and it may be worth trying this as a matter of course, but I wouldn't say that a replacement router would help based off of what I've seen so far. For reference, there's a guide in this thread on how to split the channels on your router if you'd like to do so.

[#12]

Yes, we are using the new router.

Since we don't have any devices connecting to the 5GHz wireless network, I have now disabled that network to see if it makes any difference. The router still hisses/buzzes when data are being transferred. It's not loud but it is disconcerting.

I await further feedback from PlusNet once the engineer's report has been received.

[#13]

Another brief disconnect at 02.30 am last night so switching off the 5 GHz network hasn't solved that problem.

[#14]

Thanks for getting back to us.

I've got in touch with our suppliers for the engineer notes and it looks like the engineer has said the router needs to be replaced so I've ordered a new one now. I'm not 100% confident this will resolve the issue because it looks like you've already tried two routers but a 3rd should hopefully definitively tell us if the router is the issue or not.

I've also looked at a 30 day overview of your connection and things were dropping pretty heavily but seem to be steadily stabilising:

Seeing that your line is almost a mile long I'd expect the occasional drop, however I'd recommend keeping an eye on things over the next few days and let us know how it goes with the new router you'll receive soon. If you do continue to experience frequent disconnections we'll be able to raise an escalation with our suppliers before arranging another engineer visit to try to ensure that the next engineer who goes out completes a full investigation and starts replacing or renewing parts of the line.

[#15]

Thanks for that.Like you, I am sceptical that a new router will make any difference but we'll give it a go once it arrives. Would be nice if if doesn't hiss/buzz.

Very interesting/useful to see a graphical display of our connection failures. The frequent drops were happening prior to the visit of BT engineer #2 on 23 May. At this visit he identified and fixed a dodgy joint in the cable coming into our house. After that there was a couple of days with no drops, which raised our hopes, but then we started having overnight drops, mostly around 3am. It's livable with at this level, as long as the drops only happen overnight, tho' we have had a couple of  daytime drops.  I'll continue to monitor things and escalate if drops become more frequent.